Ellen noticed that rainham_romeo1991 was online. Perhaps she should log out and log back in again? She was mulling it over when two things happened simultaneously: chrisdbarclay_90 sent her a ‘nudge’, shaking her screen, and rainham_romeo1991 took the initiative.

rainham_romeo1991: hello

Ellen’s heart drummed.

miss_BehaviourX91: hi

A few seconds passed. Too nonchalant?

rainham_romeo1991: so, been doing this long?

Ellen barked a high, nervous laugh. From downstairs she could hear the blare of the television. Parked cars nestled under the street lights on her quiet road. There was no one outside – it was March, and the weather morose and drizzly – although most of the houses in the cul-de-sac were illuminated as her neighbours went about the small, comforting rituals of their weekday evenings.

Ellen started typing.

miss_BehaviourX91: what, propositioning strangers on the internet?

miss_BehaviourX91: oh, a few months, i suppose

A pause. Was that a weird thing to say?

rainham_romeo1991: i suppose there’s a thrill in the fact that you could in fact be a middle-aged man …

That was definitely a weird thing to say. But it was also quite funny. Perhaps Holly Stanley had actually meant ‘this boy is weird, and you are weird so you will get on’. Still, it was better than Chris’s conversation and spelling.

miss_BehaviourX91: that’s definitely what my parents think msn is

rainham_romeo1991: ha mine too

rainham_romeo1991: i think they hope i’m up here doing bbc bitesize worksheets or something …

miss_BehaviourX91: mine think coursework

rainham_romeo1991: ha. standard

He was typing again.

rainham_romeo1991: it is a strange thing though, isn’t it?

rainham_romeo1991: the idea that we all just start having these long and intense chats with people we don’t really know

rainham_romeo1991: sorry, am getting philosophical

Say something smart! Say something smart!

miss_BehaviourX91: yes these long conversations with people you wouldn’t know if you walked past them on the street

Was that smart? Or was she literally just echoing back exactly what he’d just said to her?

rainham_romeo1991: TOTALLY

Well, it seemed to go down well.

He was typing.

rainham_romeo1991: well, we’re here now

rainham_romeo1991: shall we agree that it’s weird and get on with it?

miss_BehaviourX91: seems like a sensible approach

rainham_romeo1991: what kind of music are you into?

This question used to catch Ellen off guard. The pressure of answering invariably wiped her mind blank. So, as a memory aid, she had written down a few palatable favourites on a Post-It note, stuck on the wall above her laptop.

Music: Fleet Foxes, MGMT, Mystery Jets, Radiohead, Bloc Party

Television: Skins, South Park, Family Guy, The O.C.

Books: 1984, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, The Stranger

Ellen dutifully typed out her list of approved bands.

miss_BehaviourX91: mainly fleet foxes, mgmt, mystery jets, radiohead, bloc party

miss_BehaviourX91: how about you?

rainham_romeo1991: i like older stuff, mainly